El motor de MIT

Seguramente recordaréis un artículo reciente de Varum Sivaram en el que nos contaba que el venture capital no servía para las inversiones en energía, o en otras similares que requieren mucho más tiempo de maduración. Se ve que MIT opina lo mismo, y nada mejor que ponerse ellos mismos a solucionarlo, con su nuevo invento, The Engine, que describe abajo Rafael Reif (aquí más detalles del lanzamiento), y con el que quieren acelerar hasta 60 startups al año. Otra cosa más por la que tener envidia del MIT...:)

This evening, a few blocks from our campus, MIT will launch something new: an accelerator specially geared to serve new ventures based on cutting-edge science and technology. It will supply the particular combination of resources they need to develop and bring to market innovations that address society's most important challenges. We're calling it The Engine.  Why is MIT launching The Engine?We designed The Engine in response to a frustration we heard repeatedly from faculty, student and alumni entrepreneurs as well as corporate leaders: that while venture capital (VC) funding works beautifully for start-ups that can reach market profitability, IPO or buyout in three to five years, it is not as well geared to support breakthrough technologies built on new science and engineering, which typically take more time. Today, innovators in fields like energy, manufacturing, robotics, biotech and medical devices often find it extremely difficult to secure the sustained funding, space, equipment, expertise and networks to fully develop their technologies; this struggle itself can needlessly prolong the development process, stretching it to a decade or more. All too often, "tough-tech" entrepreneurs never find sufficient support, which discourages others from trying, a dynamic that leaves many promising ideas stranded in the lab. MIT's mission statement directs us not only to "advance knowledge" and "educate students," but also to bring "knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges." If we hope to deliver serious technological solutions to urgent global challenges—like clean water, climate change, sustainable energy, cancer, Alzheimer's, infectious disease, and more—we need to make sure the innovators working on those problems see a realistic pathway to the marketplace. The Engine can provide that pathway by prioritizing breakthrough ideas over early profit, helping to shorten the time it takes these ventures to become "VC-ready," providing local space and comprehensive support in the meantime, and creating an enthusiastic community of inventors and supporters focused on delivering new science-based innovation to make a better world.  As I write in this Boston Globe op-ed, I am convinced that by adding this vital new resource to the Greater Boston ecosystem, we can empower its innovators and catalyze its growth. You can read more about the concept here.